Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
Mere hours before the city of Atlanta was hit with a disruptive rain and hail storm, Spelman College celebrated a major milestone out in the sun with the official opening of the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation and the Arts (CI&A), a $96 million, state-of-the-art facility.
The event began with a community celebration on Wednesday, April 23. The CI&A, named in honor of President Emerita Mary Schmidt Campbell, is the first new academic building constructed just beyond Spelman’s gates. It now serves as the home for Spelman’s programs in dance, documentary filmmaking, photography, theater, and music.
The Center’s design reflects a deeply intentional approach to creativity, collaboration, and future-focused pedagogy. Among the speakers during the ceremony was Professor Emerita Ayoka Chenzira, Founding Director of the Digital Moving Image Salon, who played a pivotal role in the building’s conceptualization and development.
“When I was asked to help with the design of the building and serve as the faculty shepherd, I hesitated,” Chenzira recalled. “But I knew it was urgently needed. The arts faculty and students were scattered across campus—opportunities for knowledge-sharing were being missed. This space changes that.”
Chenzira spoke to the crowd, describing how she worked alongside fellow faculty members, consultants, and architects to design a space that would serve both the immediate and long-term needs of Spelman’s Division of the Arts. Despite unprecedented challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain delays, and rising construction costs, the vision endured.
“This is a space for experimentation, innovation, and community gathering,” she said. “It will support the imaginative, emerging voices of our students across disciplines—students whose work will shape and reshape not only Spelman’s future but the world’s.”
The CI&A spans 82,500 square feet and includes the Arthur M. Blank Innovation Lab, digital media and gaming labs, a high-tech black box theater, flexible classrooms, a rooftop terrace, a performance studio, and a striking double-height atrium called The Hive. It also houses the Center for Black Entrepreneurship and the Atlanta University Center Art History and Curatorial Studies Collective.
“This building is a project in investing in the power of creativity, the arts, and innovation,” said Dr. Liz Andrews, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, “It brings people together across disciplines and allows creativity to flourish. It’s incredibly thoughtful and beautiful,” Andrews continued.
The expanded Spelman College Museum of Fine Art now boasts two galleries and will host three concurrent exhibitions for the first time this fall, including a tribute to sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, who helped establish the arts program at the Atlanta University Center, according to Andrews.
The new building is already seeing movement as last month Spelman hosted the third annual HBCU Game Jam, which brought together institutions from all up the East Coast.
“It’s kind of a Sankofa moment,” Andrews reflected. “We’re looking to the future while also honoring the legacy of those who made this possible.”
Barbara Chirinos, inaugural artistic director of both the CI&A and the LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center, described the new building as “alive.”
“The energy is amazing,” Chirinos said. “Just walking the halls, you see film students editing projects with collaborators from Morehouse, dancers rehearsing in the lobby, or even film scenes being shot in the elevator. This space is a living embodiment of the vision Dr. Campbell and Dr. Chenzira had.”
She also emphasized the broader cultural mission of Spelman and the significance of opening such a space in a climate where diversity and equity face political challenges.
“HBCUs had our agenda before the current administration, and we’ll have it after,” Chirinos said. “This center is about our students, our community, and our culture. It’s about telling our stories with excellence and boldness.”
